The Doctor Eustachian B. Ear Now Institute, created by Torin Porter of Glover, Vermont, is a grouping of Òear plants connected by underground tubers.Ó Phish festival visitors can speak into one tube and heard in another tube. Some folks even ÒcleanedÓ the tubes with oversized swabs. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

The Doctor Eustachian B. Ear Now Institute, created by Torin Porter of Glover, Vermont, is a grouping of “ear plants connected by underground tubers.” Phish festival visitors can speak into one tube and heard in another tube. Some folks even “cleaned” the tubes with oversized swabs. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

The Doctor Eustachian B. Ear Now Institute, created by Torin Porter of Glover, Vermont, is a grouping of “ear plants connected by underground tubers.” Phish festival visitors can speak into one tube and heard in another tube. Some folks even “cleaned” the tubes with oversized swabs. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

The Doctor Eustachian B. Ear Now Institute, created by Torin Porter of Glover, Vermont, is a grouping of “ear plants connected by underground tubers.” Phish festival visitors can speak into one tube and heard in another tube. Some folks even “cleaned” the tubes with oversized swabs. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

Ryan Echausse of Glen Head, Long Island, plays in the cornhole tournament Friday at the start of the Phish festival weekend at Watkins Glen International. Behind him people line up to buy items in the merchandise tent and music store. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

Since 1996, Phish has put on 10 big music festivals around the country. The most recent, Super Ball IX, also was at WGI in 2011. Most of the 30,000 fans at the sold-out Magnaball seemed to have a great time throughout the weekend, especially long-time fans of the band.

Maria, a 49-year-old elementary school teacher from Long Island who declined to give her last name, was attending her first Phish festival.

“I’ve been seeing them for 23 years, and I’m kicking myself that it took this long for me to go to one,” she said Sunday afternoon. “It’s glorious. Everyone is here for the same reason, and everyone is happy. The interactive things they have are cool, and it’s just been a great vibe all around.”

Another ardent fan, Jordan Mendelson, a 21-year-old senior at SUNY New Paltz, was also attending his first Phish festival after seeing the band several times.

“I saw them at Bonnaroo in 2012, which was awesome,” he said Sunday afternoon. “But it’s really cool seeing them in their own environment. Everyone is here for that one purpose — to see Phish. And the sound is immaculate. I’ve never seen them where they’ve sounded this good.”

Dave Berg, 37, an Ithaca native who now lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., was attending his fourth Phish festival. His first was 1997’s The Great Went in Limestone, Maine.

“At that time, Phish was undergoing a lot of changes, and we didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “There was a huge turnout, and everyone was into seeing what the band could do.

“Magnaball seems like more kind of a picnic or family gathering. There are a lot of people who know each other and are interested in chatting or catching up,” he continued. “Which, as a fan of the music, I find a bit annoying. But it’s nice to see everyone having a good time.”

Phish is nearing the end of its summer tour, so the band was in top-notch form throughout Magnaball. Some people commented that bassist Mike Gordon was playing better than ever, which left guitarist Trey Anastasio, keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman more freedom for improvisational flights.

“They were stunningly good to the point of being unrecognizable,” said Joel Blizzard, drummer for Ithaca band Thousands of One, who was attending his 63rd Phish show.

“It felt like a coming of age; they could now be said to be elder statesmen of rock,” he said.

Arin Christensen celebrates getting ticket outside Gate 1 Thursday afternoon as cars line up to get into Watkins Glen International Thursday afternoon for the Phish Magnaball festival. Christensen had biked over from Watkins Glen State Park where he had spent the night. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

A security guard walks in front of the on stageside speakers Friday afternoon at the Phish Magnaball festival at Watkins Glen International. The stage is set up at the mid point of the backstretch facing north. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:

During Sunday night’s first set, Anastasio took around 10 minutes to thank all the people — everyone from the stage crew and management to local law enforcement officials — who were involved in making Magnaball such a big success. With two festivals at WGI now in the books, perhaps the band will return to upstate New York in the coming years to stage another big event.

If you didn’t make it to Magnaball or missed some of the music while you were there, you can order soundboard recordings from the festival at http://livephi.sh/Magnaball or www.LivePhish.com.

The real Dr. Grundenberg

The two-story Laboratory at the back of the infield drew big crowds throughout the weekend. The ground level hosted “The Steven Grundenberg Institute of Science,” which included several kiosks staffed by actors wearing lab coats.

It turns out that Steven Grundenberg was an actual person, though his last name was actually “Grunberg.” He was an oncologist in Burlington, Vt., who died in 2013.

“After my dad passed away, we donated his old lab coats and they ended up in an antique store in Burlington,” said his daughter, Elizabeth Grunberg, 29, a first-grade teacher in Florida. “Somehow these actors ended up with them at the Laboratory, so they named the Institute after him. I walked into Magnaball and saw my dad’s name everywhere. It’s the most magical thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life.”

Grunberg relayed the news to her mother.

“I told my mom, ‘All of dad’s stuff is at Magnaball,’ and she said, ‘It’s always about Phish, isn’t it?’ He would’ve gotten a laugh out of that,” she said.